Accommodation
A parent’s perspective on Nest: Sushil and Ruchi’s story
Article by The Nest Team
What does one do when finding themselves in the difficult and challenging situation of searching for disability support accommodation ? Build a group home yourself. This is exactly what Sushil Anand did when trying to find suitable accommodation for his daughter, Ruchi, who has autism and a severe intellectual impairment. This new group home will be a residence for Ruchi as well as four others who have been seeking such a place for some time.
“I was introduced to Nest by Melanie Southwell. She's one of the SDA consultants who is helping me build the group home.
My daughter Ruchi is 28 years old. She is autistic and has severe intellectual impairment. She has been on the waiting list for a group home for nearly five years. We have been in touch with several organisations, both in and outside of our local area, but without success.
Finally, we felt that it was time to take up the initiative and see if we could build the group home ourselves. We were cognizant that such a solution would be an option for Ruchi and four others who may have been seeking accommodation for some time.
The reason to share our story with you is to support the wonderful work of organisations such as Nest. I feel that this online platform can be of immense help to families in similar situations to ours - either searching for accommodation for a relative, or looking for residents as a provider. Through its ability to match and connect providers with families or individuals, Nest will ease considerable burden for those involved in this process.
[For families of people with disability], there's not much information available. You don't have the real estate agents… they aren't going to be involved in this kind of business. So other than Nest, or something that comes up in the future, there's nothing else, there's no other source of information.
We just have to rely on hearsay and who we know. For example, a friend or case manager might recommend a place somewhere. But the information and its sources are going to be very limited.
Nest is an internet tool where you can jump on line and see what's available. That’s great. And it will boost your confidence [in the market] as well. For instance, I didn't know there was so much accommodation available. I still thought group homes were in very short supply, but when looking at the Nest website, it's an eye-opener to see how many houses are available.
I think Nest is going to give people more choices and information about what's available and the nature and type of accommodation they can choose from. They can also choose geographical locations. They might find a house somewhere and think, ‘This house is great. We don't mind compromising on the distance from our home.’
Nest gives a lot more choice. People can use it from the convenience of their own home rather than having to drive around to 20 different places and then realise 19 out of 20 weren't really suitable. So it's a time saver and stress reliever for people looking for disability accommodation.
I also think Nest is going to give people a greater sense of control and confidence.
I think Nest is a great concept. I highly recommend that you continue with it and don't stop in the future. It will be a very valuable resource for both accommodation providers as well as for people looking for disability housing.”
